Kentucky Coal Museum unveil new Window Exhibit

By Larry LaFollette
SKCTC archivist

"Nearly everyone enjoys visiting a museum, but very few understand all that is involved behind the scenes in making a museum visit an enjoyable experience," said Alexia Ault, registrar and cataloger for the Kentucky Coal Museum and Appalachian Archives, commenting on the new window exhibit at the museum located at Benham. "That is why we are allowing the public to see firsthand some of the activities they would normally never see by doing them in the front display window of the Kentucky Coal Museum."

Ms. Ault continued, "Throughout the month of July we will be engaging in the registration and cataloging activities that not only make exhibit creation possible, but allow us to describe an item along with who donated it and the item’s history, the item's physical condition with photographs, and assign it a unique identifying number. We are currently working with two collections: a series of engineering drawings from United States Steel Corporation detailing much of the early construction work in Lynch, and a group of mine rescue competition trophies won by the International Harvester Mine Rescue Teams in Benham."

She concluded her comments about the window exhibition by stating: "We hope the public will come by and not only watch the process but feel free to ask us questions about the collections and the process by which the museum describes the items in its collections."

The Kentucky Coal Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. and until 5 p.m. For additional information on booking tours or admission prices please call 606-848-1530.